Dirt

"So...?"

I shook my head, pretending I was mute. Erin and Jessi had been trying to get me to come out and tell them if I'd slept with Matt or not for the past ten minutes. I could see Jess growing incredibly tired of the game. She was going to cuss soon.

"Listen here, bitch. You better say something soon, or I'm gonna murder everyone in this room," Jessi told me.

Erin pulled a face. "What the hell did I do? She's the one you're pissed at. And besides, you already know the answer to that by the way she hasn't denied the allegation. She totally gave it up."

I tried to hide my smile while Jessi laughed at me. "You gigantic whore! You slept with Matt! Was he good? I bet he was good. He was probably pretty good. Oh, unless he was really nervous cause he's all in love with you and shit." My face heated up and I tried to look anywhere but them to hide my blush. I should have known, though, that my best friends knew me all too well. There was an audible gasp from Jessi. "No! He didn't!"

"He did!" Erin cried from the other side of me. "And you let him?!" She studied my face. "Fuck! You did, too! Awww, I'm gonna throw up. There's so much loving each other in the room that I can't stand it."

"Would you two stop being all psychic and shit? Quit reading my mind, or whatever the hell it is you're doing. Yes, okay? He told me he loved me and I said it back. Happy now?" I asked them.

"Kinda," Erin said with a proud smirk. "When did this happen?"

"The night I slept with him." Jessi threw her head back laughing saying that she knew I was a whore. I smacked her in the leg. "Shut up. It's not like you haven't bumped uglies with Zacky. And you," I rounded on Erin, "are just as bad as me when it comes to romance and sappy shit. When are you and Brian moving in together?"

"Fuck you. I mean...we've talked about it, but..." she trailed off.

My cell rang with Pop's ringtone, so I answered it right away. He asked me to come home soon. He had something to tell me. I wasn't exactly sure if it was a good or bad thing. I couldn't tell by the sound of his voice. I asked the girls if they wanted to go with me but only Erin took me up on the offer. Jessi had plans to meet with Zacky. She told me she was going to teach him how to ride a motorcycle like a real rider. I knew this was her code for she was going to stick her ass in his face while riding a bike, thus ensuring he would be a puddle of hormones by the time she got him alone. She was my hero.

Erin and I got to my house a short time later to see my dad on the front porch smoking a cigarette with Scott, the leader of the Angels. When they saw me get out of the car, they quickly exchanged a few muffled words then shook hands. Scott waved and said a quick hello and goodbye to me as he walked across the yard to his bike. Once he left my dad ushered us into the house and straight to his office. This had to be serious.

He sat there for a long time, like he was unsure how to start. Then he looked right at me and gave me a small smile. "I've been hearing things. Bad things. Bad enough that I paid a visit to David Black today. I looked him right in the eyes, so I believed him when he said he knew nothing about what I was talking about. Apparently, Harrison has been going behind my back trying to recruit members to stand against me. He's been promising a massive regime change when he challenges me, and if these people agree to help him win, they'll be handsomely rewarded. At least, those are the rumors. Now, I heard from Scott that you had a run-in with Terry Black last night."

Erin's head whipped in my direction. Since her dad was in the same line of business mine was, she knew exactly who we were talking about. I nodded. "He's the guys' dealer apparently. Though, according to Matt, things have been going south lately. I think Harrison has something to do with it. I can't prove anything, though, but come on. It's obvious. Anyway, he stopped in the restaurant last night while we were eating and tried to take Matt away. I might have said some stuff to him to put myself on his radar, but Pop, he needed it. Who the hell does he think he is trying to fuck up our date?"

"He thinks he's a soulless, blood thirsty, monster who doesn't give a shit who he hurts as long as he gets what he wants. I'm not thrilled with what you did, but I am impressed. Only you would bring a knife to a gun fight and win."

Erin looked both terrified and impressed as well. "Wait, you pulled a knife on the guy who calls himself Johnny Capone? Did you lose your mind at some point last night?"

I just rolled my eyes at her. "You people worry too much. There's nothing to freak out about. I can handle myself."

"Wrong," Pop deadpanned from across the desk. "You handled your mouth. Now I can't be sure you'll be okay by yourself. I'll have to meet with him and try to clear this whole thing up. In the mean time, I don't want you by yourself, especially outside of this house. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think you have to go away for the summer." I was completely thrown off and surprised by this revelation. "I've rented a beach house a couple hours from here and I want you and the girls to spend some time down there after your last final."

"So my punishment for potentially putting my life in danger is a vacation? Shit, if I had known that I'd have been pissing off mob bosses all the time. If I piss off the FBI can we go to Hawaii?"

"Oh, hardy, har, har! You're a laugh riot," Pop said sarcastically.

(Matt's POV)

"So, she pulled a knife on Johnny Capone, and he left the restaurant?" Brian and the boys were in complete disbelief. "Erin's pretty hardcore, but I don't think she carries a knife around with her."

"Jessi does," Zacky told him, "so I bet Erin does, too. Their dad's probably taught them to use knives at the age of four. Those girls will never be damsels in distress, I'll tell you that much."

"That's why I love them," Jimmy said dreamily. "Can one of you dump one of them so I can date her?" The guys gave a collective no. Jimmy shrugged. "That's okay. Thought I'd ask, though."

Johnny asked what we were going to do about the Johnny Capone situation, but Zacky was ready with an answer. "Nothing," he said quietly. "I talked to Axel about it, and he's going to take care of it. We'll take the girls away for a couple weeks and lay low. When we get the call, we'll go back. It won't be that serious."

Jimmy told us he wasn't so sure about the plan. We asked him why not. "Because! You'll all bring your girlfriends and be all shacked up with each other all summer and I'll be the lone ninja in my army! Sure, it'll be fun interrupting all your sexy times, but that doesn't mean I want to do that all summer."

We all laughed at him. "Jimmy-Jam, I promise you, I will not rest this summer until I've found you a suitable pseudo wifey for the summer," I told him. "Who knows, maybe the girls know someone they could invite along."

He shook his head. "I don't want to get set up. Don't worry about me. I'll figure something out. But I do want to talk about last night. I talked to Ash this morning and got a very cryptic message about trying to get home before her dad notices that she didn't sleep there last night. Whatever could that mean? Matt, do you have any ideas?"

"Sometimes I wish you two hadn't become best friends. Okay, okay, she slept over last night."

"She's slept over before," Johnny pointed out.

"Yeah," Brian added. "What makes this time any different? Did you finally man up and get some?"

I looked straight at him. "Don't talk like that about her. Yes, I did, but that's not the point. Don't talk about her like that!" The boys were too busy laughing and cheering for me. "Yeah, yeah. Shut up. Let's not make a huge deal out of it." I tried to act like it was no big deal, but Jimmy was too busy eyeing me and cheesing like crazy. I knew that he knew. "Yes, Jimmy. I'm in love with her. Is that what you wanted to hear?" He told me that yes, it was.

"Hey, man, don't sweat it. I told Jessi I loved her a month into us dating. She's just so fucking cool, you know?" Zacky informed me.

Brian nodded his head. "I know how you feel. I'm so stuck on Erin. We've talked about finding a place together. It's crazy."

I was glad for my friends, but I knew something they didn't. I hadn't told them at first because I thought I could handle it on my own. Now I wasn't so sure. I could only try to fix what I fucked up and hope she would eventually forgive me.